How we help

Caritas Anchor House strongly believes that everyone has an ability within them to achieve success in life, whatever the term ‘success’ means to that person.

Our aim at Caritas Anchor House is to help our residents tackle and overcome life’s barriers and obstacles, the expected and the unexpected, so they may realise and accept for themselves that they have the skills and talents necessary to be happy and successful in life.

Aspirations Programme

Identifying, addressing and finally overcoming the root causes of why someone is on the street is the cornerstone of Caritas Anchor House’s success. Each resident, on arrival, becomes involved in our “Aspirations Programme”. The Aspirations Pyramid sets the order of priority for addressing the needs of the new resident.

As a first step in tackling the issues in the Aspirations Pyramid, we use the Outcomes Star. The residents score themselves on a variety of different aspects allowing them to identify the areas in their lives that need to be changed or improved upon.

Personal Development Plan

Once the assessment has been completed a Personal Development Plan is developed by the residents with his or her lifestyle architect, to bridge the gap between the current and the hoped-for positions on the Outcomes Star. This plan includes education and training (focussing on, for example, employability skills such as CV and interview preparation, qualifications, etc.), volunteering opportunities, counselling for substance abuse, and guidance on sorting out problems with debt.

The programme supports the recovery process by rebuilding confidence, drawing out the resident’s strengths and competences, abilities and interests which the resident has never recognised, or which have been ignored over the years when survival was the only priority. These skills can be in music, art, sport, hospitality, teaching/mentoring, catering, constructions skills, etc.

Education and Training

Education and training are vital stepping stones in both preventing homelessness, and helping those who have lost their homes. Learning new skills helps our residents and service users to improve their self-esteem and gain experience so that they can re-enter the workforce.

Every year, we provide help for around 1,000 people – both residents and local community members – with the opportunity to access a wide range of accredited vocational training courses. Every applicant enrolling on a course is given a one-on-one interview and provided with a Training Needs Assessment to ensure they find the right course for them.

Our training programmes have been nationally acclaimed and have won awards for innovation, successful implementation and delivery. In 2010, the UK Skills Council awarded us four National Training Excellence Awards and our Education Coordinator – a former resident – was awarded UK’s Individual Trainer of the Year.

Caritas Anchor House also delivers Welcome Host Gold, an accredited City & Guilds customer service course, at Level 1, with the option of progressing to Level 2.

Schools Outreach

In addition to our work with adults, we also run a schools outreach programme designed to educate young people about the causes and consequences of homelessness.

The programme is offered to all primary and secondary schools in Newham, as well as those within the Brentwood Diocese, and hopes to reduce the risk of children becoming homeless as adults.

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Latest News

During the last quarter of our reporting year, 6 April 2015 – 5 July 2015, we continued to experience the problems associated with austerity measures. These measures have had detrimental impacts on our service users and the past few months have not been without difficulty. However, we have continued to deliver high performing outcomes.

Charities are under increased pressure to provide support in the face of a rigid welfare system, a new report launched today from CSAN (Caritas Social Action Network) has found. The report, Caritas reports: the impact of welfare changes, investigates the impact of welfare reform on vulnerable people, charity staff and services. Through the words of […]

Caritas Anchor House is delighted to announce that we are in the running for a prestigious national award. We have been shortlisted by the Charity Times Awards 2015 in the category of Social Champion, for which we were Highly Commended Runner-Up in 2014 and 2013. This accolade recognises organisations that have consistently delivered an outstanding service […]